Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Kailash temple Ellora,India

The Kailash temple is not built. All is cut and carved from one gigantic piece of rock, out of the Charanandri hills of the Sahyadri range of the Deccan Plateau at a village, which once was called Elapura, (later renamed as Ellora by british), 30 km northwest of Sambhajinagar (aurangabad). The Kailash temple was cut from the top down in a U-shape form, about 50 Meters deep in the back and sliding to lower levels on the sides to the front where there is an entry gate. From where the cutting was started is not known, definitely it could be from the Ganesh Dwar (every Hindu temple has a place that is dedicated to Bhagwan Ganesh, Son of Bhagwan Shiv), but later were the de-pilings done simultaneously or step by step – nothing is clear even after deep research conducted by several experts.Actual Date of Kailash Temple Construction Still Unknown. The fascinating fact is, almost nothing is known about the origins, constructors and builders of Kailash temple, there are no dates neither, any trace or inscriptions to describe the construction to be known to the world on the overall process and entire purpose of construction. This indicates that the carving dates back to hundreds of years – other experts put it thousands of years old and later some developments and changes were made by Buddhist and Jainese monks – thereby involvement of several generations of Hindu kings and later also followers of new religions when some of the Hindu kings got inclined towards some aspects of Buddhism and Jain. The inscriptions are very old, most of them got diminished as hundreds of years passed by. Deciphering and reading inscriptions is almost impossible. Only a pious Hindu Sage can reassess the entire past of construction, if he has yogic powers to telepathically interact wtih the timescale and Sages of that time. Recently, Rashtrakuta king (756-773) undertook some of the renovation in terms of cleaning and upkeep of the divine structure.Elephant is considered as an auspicious animal in Hinduism. Elephants are protectors and dwarpals of many Hindu temples, they protect pride and opulence of Hinduism thereby representing both these traits themselves. Indra, king of all devtas, rides on Airavat, white elephant. Elephants are part of religious ceremonies and functions of Devtas and therefore Hindus follow them even today in some parts of Bharat. Similarly, there are elephants guarding the entire place within Kailash temple. There are real size statues of elephants in and around the temple. An image of the sacred bull Nandi paying obeisance to Bhagwan Shiv is in the center of the temple. Like other Hindu temples, the Kailasa temple has a Sikhara (spire), but it looks relatively small compared to the whole structure. On top of inside the temple, there is a ring or flower carvings on the ceiling of the central room. The Kailasa Temple is crown and part of the Ellora cave group. It is build at number 16th cave among total of 34 caves. The Ellora caves are not natural caves that are built by nature out of wear tear of seasons and movement of earth, but spiritual dwellings excavated manually by Hindus out of the face of a cliff.Today building a massive structure like Kailash temple would require pre-design and 3D conceptions using latest CAD softwares and high-tech computers. Imagining how the structure will look at which area we should have distance properly maintained to start carving, where we should pause, which side we should start building entrance, how the internal design be formed. There are hundreds of questions which require answers and only getting resolutions around these queries alone would require several months of hundreds of dedicated designs, 3D graphic artistes and designers who have knowledge of construction and civil work.Most important of all we need an architect who is perfectionist having in-depth knowledge of Vastu, Vedic science of construction and mantras. Even one single mistake would mean abandoning the entire rock and searching for the new mountain. Administering thousands of labors to slice the rock and carve it with so much perfection need an able leader and astute decision maker who has complete design in mind with exemplary intricate details, before materializing it in real. Repeating such a feat even by using modern technology is almost impossible but ancient Hindu Sages/Yogis made it possible simply with their spiritual powers, astute direction to skilled and dedicated workers with endless divine blessings.